Working from Home with HoleBASE SI and Extensions


In these challenging times when COVID-19 is imposing significant disruptions to day to day activities and affecting normal business flow of our much-valued users and employees, we at Bentley are mindfully committed to ensuring a smooth transition of work from the office to a remote location or home. Our innovative software and services are all geared for working from home or remote locations and do not impose the need to be in an office set-up. To help facilitate this, we have written the following article to help keep you up and running with our software.

https://vimeo.com/400277655

Which software does this article relate to?

This article refers to the following products;

Note : This is for the desktop versions of HoleBASE that are from the Pre-Bentley acquisition methods of licensing, also known as Safenet, Hardware locked (HWL) or HASP versions of the software.

What is needed to access HoleBASE and its Extensions?

In normal circumstances, our users access HoleBASE through machines within their office network setup. These being either through a standalone licence and database, or a network licence and database, or even a combination of the above. With a number of our users accessing the software from home, we would first of all strongly recommend that a laptop or similar machine is sourced from the workplace that is setup with a VPN that can connect to the office environment. It is also possible to connect to a machine in the office through a remote desktop connection and then continue to use the software as normal. This will still require a VPN connection to the network that hosts the SQL server.

How and What do I need to install?

Prerequisites

This section describes the prerequisites for installing the HoleBASE SI release on your machine. All the application prerequisites are bundled into the HoleBASE SI Installer which will detect and automatically install the required components.

Windows Installer 4.5

In order to install a number of the prerequisites version 4.5 of the Windows Installer is required. Microsoft Windows Installer is a component of the Windows operating system. Windows Installer provides a standard foundation for installing and uninstalling software.

C++ Runtime 2010 SP1

The Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 SP1 Redistributable Package (x64) installs runtime components of Visual C++ Libraries required to run 64-bit applications developed with Visual C++ 2010 SP1 on a computer that does not have Visual C++ 2010 SP1 installed.

Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 and .NET Framework 4.6.1

HoleBASE SI requires the Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6.1 which requires version 3.5 SP1 as a prerequisite.

Important Note: The .NET Framework 4 works side by side with older Framework versions. Applications that are based on earlier versions of the Framework will continue to run on the version targeted by default.

.NET 4.6.1 will be installed with the latest release of HBSI as part of the installation process.

Desktop Installation

Download the required installer.

Before running the installer please ensure that you have one of the supported operating systems (and required Service Pack installed on your machine).

Important Note: During the installation process you may be prompted to restart your machine following the installation of each of the Microsoft prerequisites. Following a restart the installation process should automatically resume. Please note depending on your Windows User Account Control (UAC) settings you may also be prompted to elevate to a System Administrator and may be prompted to enter an Administrator username and password.

Permissions (User Access etc)

You will require Administrator Privileges in order to install HoleBASE SI and its prerequisites. All prerequisites are bundled into the HoleBASE SI Installer which auto detects if you have the required versions and then installs them automatically if required. You do not need to download the prerequisites manually.

Please note depending on your Windows User Account Control (UAC) settings you may also be prompted to elevate to a System Administrator and may be prompted to enter an Administrator username and password.

Firewall and Antivirus Exceptions

HoleBASE SI contains a mapping component within the software which may need a specific exception added to any network antivirus and firewall software running on the network. Any proxy servers that may prevent the program from accessing the internet may also need review. Specifically the following executable may need adding to any firewall or proxy server exception list;

Keynetix.HolebaseSI.WPF.exe

Also the following list of web addresses may need adding to any proxy server exception lists;

BING:

BGS:

Which version of the software do I need?

Please note that HoleBASE works on a version upgrade system for the database and the local client. Therefore, the version of the software that you need, also needs to match the version that the database is currently upgraded to. For non-administrator HoleBASE users, a message will appear when you try to login, that the version of HoleBASE does not match the version of the database. Administrator users will be offered the chance to upgrade the database to match the version of their HoleBASE, we strongly recommend that this process is not completed without further thought and consideration as this will mean that the rest of the users that connect to that database will also need to update to that version.

The correct version of the software can be downloaded from the links below.

Where do I get the installers for the software?

Installation files for our non-Connect Edtion desktop software can still be downloaded from our Keynetix Assist website at the following locations;

Connecting a desktop machine to a network licence

Please note, this will require a connection through to the database server, either through a direct connection, or through a VPN.

1. When you run HoleBASE SI for the first time you will see the login screen as shown below.

2. Click the licence button to display the licence options. Select the Networked option as shown below and then click Next

3. You will how see the licence type form when you need to type the host name of the server that you installed the HoleBASE Licence program. You only need to type the host name and you do not need to enter any path or additional information. Click Test Connection to ensure that the program is able to find the server. Once the test has been completed successfully click the Save button.

Troubleshooting a connection to the licence server

If you are having trouble after setting up a connection through to the licence server, it is first imperative to ensure that your machine can connect through to the licence server. You can do this by running the following test;

Open a Web Browser (such as Chrome or Firefox), and go to the following location;

(Where <MY-LICENCE-SERVER> would be replaced by your server name. e.g.

A message should appear stating that the page is either forbidden (such as in the screenshot below), or you may get access to the licence server admin panel.If an error appears saying something along the lines of unable to communicate with host or a timeout, then there is an underlying network problem, and your IT needs to ensure port 1947 is allowed over the VPN.

If you still require further assistance, please see the 'I still need further help....' section below.

Connecting to an existing HoleBASE SI Database

If you are connecting to a network SQL server then you must follow the steps below.

Please note, this will require a connection through to the database server, either through a direct connection, or through a VPN.

1. When you run HoleBASE SI for the first time you will see the login screen as shown below.

2. Click on the Manage Connections Link to open the connections window. This will display any connections you already have configured for HoleBASE SI. The first time you open this form it will be blank. Click New Connection to link to an existing database that has been set up for HoleBASE SI. Note: If you have not yet created a HoleBASE SI database then you need to click the Create Database button and follow the steps in the next section of this guide.

3. The Connections form will be displayed as shown below and you need to enter the following information that will have been supplied to you by your IT department.

Accessing Product documentation

We are currently in the process of migrating our help documentation from our old Keynetix Assist website to this Wiki within Bentley Communities. For now, all help can still be found at : http://assist.keynetix.com/Content/Home.htm

I still need further help....

If you still require further help, then please ensure to contact our support team by raising a service request or emailing our support team at support.gim@bentley.com. If you are having issues with licencing – please contact support by raising a service request and we can provide guidance and potentially arrange the issue of temporary local licences.

Important notice about use of Bentley applications in virtual environments - click here